Not having a full weekend or a full will to get on a river trip, I went on a little bike exploration of our urban Bellingham water environment. As it happens, the following (Class IV+) whitewater is a short walk (and even shorter paddle) from my house.
Well, sort of…
The balmy temps in the ‘ham today got me thinking about how long it has been since I’ve gone boating. It’s funny how that happens- a few busy days at school or work can turn into two months in a flash. Well, Owen must have read my mind, because as I was enjoying the sun on the way home from teaching this morning, I got a voicemail from him asking if I wanted to do a little paddling.
We decided to go do a run on the ‘Bend, even though it was flowing at a bony 350 cfs, because it was close, and also because we wanted to check out the wood situation. When we arrived at the takeout, it was loooww- I wasn’t sure if it even had 350 c’s in it. Even so, a low-water, sunny day paddle on the backyard run is still pretty damn nice.
Hiked up the Horseshoe Bend trail the other day and was surprised to see a significant amount of wood in the river between Bench Drop and SAT. I had heard that the run was still wood-free after the November floods, so it looks as if all the snow and ice from last weeks storm loaded down the trees and caused several to topple in. These new strainers could be very hazardous to a swimmer at Bench, because they are just around the corner and might not be visible while scouting the drop.
At this point, there are at least three riverwide trees in the two rapids below Bench Drop. The first log is across the big rocks that create the lower part of the first rapid. In the photo below, you can see a rope attached to the tree where someone has been trying to dislodge the strainer.
The next logs are not far downstream, in the rapid immediately before SAT. Here’s a look back up at the mess from the river right scout rock.
Strainer number four is right at the top drop of SAT, and number five extends out from river right at the base of the last drop. There is a final riverwide strainer just downstream of the rapid.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, a tree fell on the old set of wires that cross the river immediately below Bench Drop, so there are now two submerged wires/cables in the river just upstream of the first log mentioned above. All of this was seen at low water (~375 cfs), so some of the trees will probably be under water at more normal flows. Whether this makes them more or less of a hazard remains to be seen, but it is very likely that at least some of them will still be in play for paddlers. I’d imagine that some of these will move as the water levels come up, but several looked to be pretty firmly wedged in or still anchored to the shore by their root mass.
As things stand right now, it is a mandatory portage from the base of Bench Drop to the top of SAT, and it is possible that the first drop of that one may need to be portaged as well. It might be also be prudent to portage Bench, just to be on the safe side, although this isn’t absolutely necessary. The wood at the bottom of SAT is also a bit sketch, so use good judgement there.
